I think I have never seen a tandem-seat Bloch of the 150 series, are you the inventor of it?
Sssh, cela devrait rester confidentiel ... même Marcel Bloch n'a jamais entendu parler des MB 150s à deux places!
Hispano-Powered Bloch Fighters - the SO 154/MB 154BThe Vichy regime faced an on-going shortage of Gnome-Rhône engines for its Bloch fighters. The Bloch MB 154 was a still-born Wright
Cyclone-powered MB 152 proposal. After the Armistice, stocks of HS 12Y powerplants were available. It was decided to complete MB 155 components as Hispano-powered MB 154Bs (in the Vichy designation style).
The redesign resulted in a radically different-looking fighter. Besides powerplant, the MB 154B differed from the MB 155 in having its cockpit moved even further aft to accommodate a Hispano-Suiza 20 mm moteur-canon. The engine installation and much of the cowling were taken from the rival Dewoitine D.520 fighter (as was the tailwheel - specified by the Germans to replace the typical Bloch fighter tailskid).
By agreement, the protoype was delivered to German authorities as the SNCASO SO 154 V1. [1] The Germans were interested in this aircraft as a potential advanced fighter-trainer. The prototype was fitted with an early-model HS 12Ycrs engine and a refurbished HS-404 cannon. [2] Performance suffered according ... which was possibly the French technicians' purpose in choosing somewhat antiquated equipment for the SO 154 prototype.
(Top) The prototype SO 154 V1 as delivered to German Occupation Authorities after 'Germanization' at Bordeaux-Aéronautique. Note that, at this stage, the prototype retains its French R/T gear but a German gunsight has been fitted. The unpainted cowling has yet to receive a coat of RLM 04 recognition yellow but Rechlin test codes have been applied prior to the flight to Germany.
The indifferent performance of the SO 154 V1 ensured that the Germans quickly lost interest in the project and released the SO 154 for exclusive Vichy use. The prototype remained at Rechlin but the ultimate fate of SO 154 V1 is unrecorded.
The Bloch MB 154B (as the SO 154 was known to Vichy) was to have been a 'heavy fighter' armed with three 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS-404 cannons - one as a
moteur-canon and two wing-mounted guns. That plan was thwarted by a shortage of 20 mm guns. Instead, first series MB 154Bs were delivered with their wing cannon positions blanked off and two MAC machine guns mounted outboard. Second series fighters had a
moteur-canon with four wing-mounted machine guns. All MB 154Bs were powered by the available HS 12Y-31 engines but the planned MB 154D [3] with a more powerful HS 12Y-45 never came to fruition.
(Bottom) A Vichy Bloch MB 154B of
Groupe de Chasse II/5 in Morocco. The 'Hispano Bloch' fighters joined Hawk 75As of GC II/5 at Casablanca before redeploying as a bomber escort flight temporarily based at Médiouna airfield. This MB 154B never received an individual aircraft number - it was lost returning from a 24 Sept 1940 raid on Gibraltar (probably due to damage from anti-aircraft fire).
After December 1940, GC II/5 was able to standardize on Curtiss H75As. All remaining MB 154Bs in North Africa were reassigned to GC II/3 at Oran where they served alongside Dewoitine D.520s. By 1943, the surviving MB 154Bs [4] had been transferred to Marrakech - where most were destroyed on the ground by strafing US Navy F4F-4
Wildcats during Operation
Torch.
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[1] To the Nazis, Marcel Bloch was an 'undesirable' and they would not apply his Ashkenazic surname to aircraft ordered for the Luftwaffe. The German authorities encouraged the Vichy regime to also adopt SNCASO designations but 'MB' designations remained in common use (with 'Sud-Ouest' regarded as interchangeable with 'Bloch').
[2] In all probability, the SO 154 V1's engine and armament combination originated with a retired or wrecked Dewoitine D.510 fighter.
[3] No 'MB 154C' sub-style designation was ever applied, probably to avoid confusion with the Armee de l'Air de Vichy's C1 (
Chasse, Monoplace) suffix designator.
[4] Other than test airframes, no Bloch MB 154Bs served in Metropolitan France.
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